UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, May 17, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Baerbock another call to achieve required majority for Kosovo at CoE (media)
French Minister: Kosovo issue can cause division at Council of Europe (media)
Hasani: Kosovo government should act swiftly to meet its commitments (media)
Hoxhaj: Failure to admit Kosovo would only benefit Russia and Serbia (media)
Knaus: It would be fatal to ignore Ahtisaari formula for peace (media)
Escobar: We should’ve insisted more on implementation of Association (media)
Forde: EU-facilitated dialogue and CoE membership are linked (Albanian Post)
E-Municipalities launched; Kurti: Citizens are active part of decision-making (Klan)
Hovenier: We stand together against any form of violence or hate speech against LGBTQI+ (media)
Bislimi, Gjeloshaj discuss ways to further Kosovo-Montenegro relations (media)
Kurti remembers Ukshin Hoti, “perpetrators remain unpunished” (media)
Challenges and responsibilities of Serbian media in Kosovo (Telegrafi)

Serbian Language Media:

No CoE Committee of Ministers debate on Pristina's membership bid (Tanjug, media)
Vucic on Kosovo and CoE: It won't be easy for them, now they're trying another trick (Kosovo Online)
Vogel on letter to CoE: Kosovo Government initiative “a political theater” (Kosovo Online)
Djuric meets with Allen (media)
Allen: We won't tell Serbia how to conduct its foreign policy; partnership with the U.S. is more important (Kosovo Online, RTS)
Trial of Sladjan Trajkovic continues: Different statements of witness (Radio KIM)
Vucic: UNGA resolution seeks punishment for entire Serbian nation (Tanjug)

Opinion:

The Escobar Case: A Case Study of How Disinformation Is Created Through the Misuse of Real Events and Data (KoSSev)

International:

U.S. Ambassador To NATO Calls On Western Balkan Countries To Increase Defense Spending (RFE)
‘Here You’re Nobody’: Kosovo Cannes Film Candidate Explores Lure of Migration (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Baerbock another call to achieve required majority for Kosovo at CoE (media)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said today on the eve of the meeting of foreign ministers of Council of Europe member states that “all those involved and everyone responsible in Kosovo must now do everything to ensure that the required majority in favour of Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe is achieved soon.”

French Minister: Kosovo issue can cause division at Council of Europe (media)

French Minister Delegate for Europe, Jean-Noel Barrot, said today before the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, that France believes in this phase there is a risk that the issue of Kosovo can cause division between member states and that its membership should be discussed at a later stage. He said that France is one of the member states of the Council of Europe that recognizes Kosovo and believes that Kosovo will be a member of the organization in the future. “Nevertheless, France believes that in this regard Kosovo has a certain path to follow and France is available to accompany Kosovo on that path,” he said.

Hasani: Kosovo government should act swiftly to meet its commitments (media)

Albania’s Foreign Minister Igli Hasani said in a Facebook post today that Kosovo has remained out of the agenda of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for today. “The failure to include Kosovo’s membership in today’s ministerial of the Council of Europe is a lost historic opportunity for Kosovo to have a merited place on the table and a stronger voice in shaping a united and democratic Europe. The Kosovo Government should act swiftly to meet its commitments and to engage in constructive spirit with its determined international partners and supporters. This should be followed with collective efforts so that in the near future there can be another meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. We all need to act swiftly to deliver what we owe to the people of Kosovo,” Hasani said.

Hoxhaj: Failure to admit Kosovo would only benefit Russia and Serbia (media)

Former Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj, said in a post on X that “today, at the Council of Europe, the democratic world faces a critical test on the promise given in 2008 - to integrate Kosovo into the international society & as for Kosovo the commitment that has given - for a multi-ethnic society. Failure to admit Kosovo would only benefit Russia & Serbia!”

Knaus: It would be fatal to ignore Ahtisaari formula for peace (media)

Chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Gerald Knaus, said today in a post on X on the eve of the meeting of foreign ministers of Council of Europe member states, that “it would be fatal for foreign ministers today just to ignore: Ahtisaari’s formula for peace, the overwhelming PACE recommendation (with 83 percent!), a very good proposal by the 🇽🇰 government to address in good faith and on the basis of a strong proposal a final, long unresolved issue. And to conclude instead: Serbia can veto Kosovo‘s progress. It must agree to HOW an ASM is to be set up. Which it will not do”.

In a previous post, Knaus suggested that the foreign ministers “should set a new date for an extraordinary meeting within a few weeks, to be able to vote on Kosovo’s application once it has moved forward on the issue of the ASM. This would send a clear signal to Serbia that Kosovo’s statehood is here to stay and retains the full backing of European democracies”.

Escobar: We should’ve insisted more on implementation of Association (media)

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Gabriel Escobar, on his last day of his term, in an interview with the Atlantic Council Europe Centre, said that “we should have insisted more on the implementation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities because we noticed the lack of the good will from both parties”.

Escobar also said that “the Association is absolutely crucial to Kosovo’s interpretation and implementation. It is the most difficult one. And so with that difficult one it was important that Kosovo signals its willingness to address the question of the Serb minority within its borders. That is really important. That has been a very difficult one. And from the American perspective because the European path included important parts of this Association at every step, we believe that by accepting a European proposal through a European process which is the dialogue and an agreement that is guaranteed by the European Union, it would give the American side an opportunity to lobby the European states to say that Kosovo has done everything that Europe has asked and therefore new recognitions are warranted. Now without that we did not have very much material to work with.”

Forde: EU-facilitated dialogue and CoE membership are linked (Albanian Post)

Andrew Forde, expert on international law on human rights, governance, and political affairs, said in an interview with the news website that the EU-facilitated dialogue and the process of Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe are intertwined.

Forde, who worked in the Council of Europe for ten years and now lectures at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at Galway University, said that by accepting the Basic Agreement in Brussels, Kosovo agreed that there will be an Association [of Serb-majority municipalities], so the question that should be asked now is “if Kosovo will act in good faith and respect its commitments”. “The principle of good faith is crucial for international law on human rights and for the effective functioning of inter-governmental organizations,” he said.

Forde said that Kosovo not being included on the agenda of the Committee of Minister should not be linked only with the issue of the Association. “It is very simple in my opinion to bring this down exclusively to the Association, but it is more complex and nuanced than that,” he argued.

Forde also said that it is not reasonable for the Committee of Ministers to ignore or oppose the opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for long. “This would create a kind of a ‘statutory crisis’ in the Council of Europe. So, the question is when and not if Kosovo will become a member. It is even possible that the Committee of Ministers could decide on a special ministerial meeting later this year,” he said.

E-Municipalities launched; Kurti: Citizens are active part of decision-making (Klan)

The Kosovo government launched the E-Municipalities platform today as part of the E-Kosova platform. Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the new services offered by the platform increase the interaction between the municipal authorities and the citizens, “making the citizens an active part of the decision-making process and allowing them to be informed in real-time about developments in their municipalities”. Through E-Municipalities, the people will be able to watch the sessions of municipal assemblies, report problems to respective municipalities, communicate with municipal officials, initiate and contribute to public debates, get information about the municipalities and see the wealth of municipal officials.

Hovenier: We stand together against any form of violence or hate speech against LGBTQI+ (media)

U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, said in a post on X today that he “joined Kosovan friends, civil society reps, & fellow diplomats in Pristina to mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia today. As we continue our shared efforts to support a free, peaceful, and democratic Kosovo, we stand together against any form of violence or hate speech towards members of the LGBTQI+ community. LGBTQI+ rights are Human Rights''.

Bislimi, Gjeloshaj discuss ways to further Kosovo-Montenegro relations (media)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi met on Thursday with Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies Nik Gjeloshaj, and discussed the special relations between Kosovo and Montenegro and the opportunities to further the cooperation. “They outlined the importance of building new bridges of cooperation, with special emphasis on different infrastructure projects,” a press release issued by the Kosovo government notes.

Kurti remembers Ukshin Hoti, “perpetrators remain unpunished” (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in a post on X on Thursday remembered Kosovo Albanian intellectual Ukshin Hoti. “May 16, 1999: Serbian army & police forcibly disappear the great intellectual of the Albanian cause, Ukshin Hoti. 25 yrs later: His fate remains unconfirmed, the perpetrators remain unpunished and Serbia's archives on mass graves remain closed—in blatant violation of our 2023 agreement,” Kurti wrote.

Challenges and responsibilities of Serbian media in Kosovo (Telegrafi)

Isak Vorgucic from RTV KIM and Zulfije Jakupi from the Serbian editorial office of Radio Kosova in a podcast discussed the role, responsibility, reporting and the situation of the media in the Serbian, Bosniak, Turkish and other communities in Kosovo.

Jakupi, who has extensive experience with the media in Kosovo in Serbia, said there are major changes from the time when she started working in journalism and the present day. “I have been working in journalism since 2000. At the time, when I started in journalism, there were many international missions that were leading in Kosovo. The OSCE mission closely monitored the work of the media. There was accountability for every word that was said. The focus in the postwar period was to inform people what happened during the war, and how Kosovo will move forward,” she said.

Jakupi said that the media sometimes incite tensions between the communities, “not always, but this could be the reality on the ground”. “The way of work has also changed in terms of the technology that is used. Now we have smartphones. The information gets to the editorial office very fast. And we also have the social networks which I can say have greatly damaged the profession of journalism or journalism in general,” she added.

Vorgucic said that RTV KIM was established in 2000 and that “the idea was to offer independent information about developments in Kosovo by a Kosovo media in Serbian language. At the time media from Serbia were more present, so people received information that came from there, and the media in Kosovo in the Serbian language were not so developed. There was Radio Pristina, which opened an editorial office in Gracanica, which works to this day, but I don’t consider it independent journalism. There are different opinions”.

Vorgucic also said that “it is difficult today to find people that want to work in journalism”. “I would say that it is no longer a popular profession. After all you can see that this is not the case only with the media in Serbian language, as many Albanian journalists too have moved to institutions and politics,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

No CoE Committee of Ministers debate on Pristina's membership bid (Tanjug, media)

The Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers did not debate Kosovo CoE membership bid on Friday after it was not included in the final agenda adopted before the committee met in Strasbourg, Tanjug learns.

Prior to the meeting, Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto told Tanjug his country did not support Pristina's membership bid and its principled position was that it wanted to see a successful finalization of the Belgrade and Pristina dialogue.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, German FM Annalena Baerbock called on Pristina to meet the required conditions as soon as possible to enable Germany to encourage a majority of CoE member states to back its admission to the organization.

French Secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot said his country believed the issue of Pristina's CoE membership could cause divisions within the organization at this stage and that it should be discussed later, once Pristina completed the necessary path.

Previously, in a letter to Pristina's PM Albin Kurti, France, Germany and Italy noted that Pristina had not met the conditions set by the international community for its CoE admission after taking no steps towards establishing a Community of Serb Municipalities, and called on the Pristina government to reconsider a decision to send its own statute of the Community of Serbian Municipalities to Constitutional Court.

Vucic on Kosovo and CoE: It won't be easy for them, now they're trying another trick (Kosovo Online)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic emphasized the great importance for Serbia and the Serbian people of the fact that the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church was not allowed to enter Kosovo, the center of Serbian spirituality. However, he noted that this matter is of no importance to Pristina and the West.

He pointed out that there has been no reaction from the Quint countries or the EU on this issue, except for messages saying "we are concerned" or "we are increasingly angry".

"For our church and people, the ban on the entry of the Patriarch is extremely important, but for Pristina, it is not important at all. Someone detained Rada Trajkovic for two hours, and every Quint and EU member intervened and demanded her release, even though she wasn't arrested or anything", Vucic stated.

He also mentioned that when an Albanian was detained at the border on suspicion of committing war crimes, all the world's media reported that Serbia had blocked the passage for Kosovo citizens.

Opinion

The Escobar Case: A Case Study of How Disinformation Is Created Through the Misuse of Real Events and Data (KoSSev)

In the last few weeks, a certain piece of news about Gabriel Escobar, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Balkans, was shared on social networks and by some media, which was, to say the least, confusing for all in Serbia and Kosovo alike. Has Escobar been fired, did his wife receive money from Serbia, and is his alleged relative the owner of a law firm hired by Republika Srpska for lobbying in America?

By Andjela Milivojević

The little-known site Frontliner, headed by Vudi Xhymshiti, who presents himself as a photojournalist from London, published an article about Gabriel Escobar, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Balkans in early May, which very quickly garnered the attention of the regional media in the Western Balkans.

An analysis of the data published on that website and a comparison with publicly available information shows that the claims about Gabriel Escobar are based on data that is either fully inaccurate or presented in a manipulative manner and placed in the wrong context to present them as credible claims.

The media have a legitimate right and duty to report on diplomats’ ties to local authorities and, in the public interest, point out and expose potential conflicts of interest. The way information on Gabriel Escobar was published is a good example of how citizens can be exposed to misinformation that at an initial glance appears to be reliable claims.

International

U.S. Ambassador To NATO Calls On Western Balkan Countries To Increase Defense Spending (RFE)

The United States hopes that by the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, nearly all 32 alliance members will meet the pledge made 10 years ago to increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP, said U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith. "By this summer, when we get to the Washington summit, we expect to have roughly two-thirds of the alliance meeting the target," Smith said on May 16 in an interview with RFE/RL.

NATO members Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia in particular were urged "to work harder to try and hit the 2 percent target" by the time the NATO summit takes place, she said.

"They have all worked tirelessly over the last decade to increase their defense spending, and we salute those efforts," Smith said.

"Those are difficult national decisions to make that are hard when there are demands on the domestic side of the house to spend money on other priorities."

President Joe Biden is hoping to celebrate the largest number of allies at 2 percent than seen over the last decade at the July 9-11 summit, she said.

"So, anything that our friends in the Western Balkans can do to increase that defense spending would be appreciated. And it's not just because of burden sharing, but it's because of the current security environment," Smith said. "There are threats all around us."

She cited the war in Ukraine, Russia's evolving partnership with China, its increased defense production, and the support Russia is receiving from Iran and North Korean.